Surfer Girl Won't Give Up Her Passion

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Before losing her arm in a shark attack, Bethany Hamilton was a top amateur surfer who was expected to turn pro. Now she is unsure whether she will ever surf competitively again. But she said she will not give up her passion.

Just this past Halloween, she was lying on her surfboard, taking a break after catching some early morning waves, when the gray blur emerged near her left arm as it dangled in the Pacific.

Bethany was suddenly being jerked back and forth.

"I looked down at the red water," she recalled. "Right away I knew it was a shark and I knew my arm was gone."

The 13-year-old lost more than half her blood and all but four inches of her arm, though those who witnessed the attack say Bethany never screamed or panicked.

"There's no need for that," she told The Associated Press nearly three weeks after the attack, in one of the first in a series of interviews and TV appearances. "I wasn't that scared. I didn't think I was going to die or anything."

Tall and lean, with blond hair and a tan, Bethany has accepted her misfortune with remarkable serenity.

"There's no time machine," she said. "I can't change it. That was God's plan for my life and I'm going to go with it."

For all the nightmarish drama the shark attack conveys, Bethany recounts it with nonchalance: She arose around 5 a.m. on Oct. 31, heading out to do what she loves _ surfing with her best friend, Alana Blanchard. After about a half-hour of action, she took a break, dangling her arm in the ocean when the 15-foot tiger shark attacked.

Blanchard's father, Holt, surfing nearby, used a surf leash as a tourniquet. Fellow surfers towed her in on a surfboard. She blacked out briefly, then woke up ashore.

When she reached Wilcox Memorial Hospital, another amazing part of the story unfolded: The girl's father, Tom Hamilton, had been lying on the operating table, moments away from knee surgery, when a doctor burst through the doors, saying the room was needed for a shark attack victim. When he heard it was a 13-year-old, Tom Hamilton's heart sank. He knew it was either his daughter or her best friend.

Bethany spent nearly a week in the hospital and has remained largely in seclusion since then.

When her bandages were removed _ and her stump was revealed _ one of her brothers turned white. Her mother nearly collapsed. And her grandmother went outside and wept.

On Thursday, her stitches were to come out and she awaited word on when she could return to the water.

"If I was like a person that just quit surfing after this, I wouldn't be a real surfer," she said. "I'm definitely going to get back in the water."

Bethany hopes to be fitted with prosthetics allowing her to continue not only to surf but also to play the guitar. She plans to try snowboarding for the first time this winter, and she is aiming for a career in photography.

Around Bethany's neck hangs a glittering gold surfboard _ a get-well gift from a family friend. It has a diamond in the center and a bite taken out of the top, just like her own board, with its 16-inch gash.

Bethany said the attack is "pretty much all I think about," and she has revisited the horrible event in her dreams four times since the attack.

But she said: "If you don't get over it, then you'll just be sad and cry."

Copyright 2003 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.